The present invention relates to an information processing system, a portable information terminal apparatus, an information processing method, a program information providing apparatus, a program information providing method, a recording/reproducing apparatus, a recording/reproducing method, a program storage medium, and a program. More particularly, the invention relates to an information processing system, a portable information terminal apparatus, an information processing method, a program information providing apparatus, a program information providing method, a recording/reproducing apparatus, a recording/reproducing method, a program storage medium, and a program, whereby a user operating the portable information terminal apparatus such as a so-called PDA can preset a desired program to be recorded unattended.
Some related-art TV program recorders known as VTRs (video tape recorders) allow users to preset desired programs to be later recorded unattended using the so-called G code (trademark of Gemstar Development Corp.). This technology involves the user operating a remote commander to input a G code corresponding to the desired TV program, the G code being transmitted as an infrared ray signal to the VTR. Upon receipt of the infrared ray signal, the VTR decodes the G code carried by the signal to find out the date of broadcast, the name of the TV station concerned, the name of the TV program to be recorded, a program start time, and a program end time for analysis, and presets accordingly the TV program for recording.
Examples of the technology above are disclosed illustratively in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,079 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,173.
One disadvantage of the above-disclosed method is its complexity of operation. The method requires the user to look up a G code of up to eight digits corresponding to a desired TV program in the program list carried by the newspaper, magazines or other publications and to manually input the selected G code.
Recent years have seen the launch of a service based on a system utilizing a TV program preset website on the Internet allowing users to preset desired TV programs to be later recorded unattended. According to this preset recording system, a user operates a portable information terminal apparatus such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or a personal computer initially to access a TV program preset website offering TV program information (in the form of a TV program list). Browsing through the program information, the user searches for the desired TV program. Once the desired program is chosen, the user operates a preset button to download the relevant program information describing the name of the TV station concerned, the name of the TV program to be recorded, a program start time, and a program end time.
A disadvantage of the recording preset system above is that users must keep displaying the TV program list on their PDA or personal computer screen after gaining access to the TV program preset website, until they find the programs they have been searching for. The search process is time-consuming and expensive in an online communication environment.